News Press Release

SFMOMA Presents Marco Brambilla's Cyclorama

On February 25, 2005, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) will present Marco Brambilla's video installation Cyclorama, 1999. Cyclorama features views from nine revolving rooftop restaurants in cities across North AmericaMontreal, New York, New Orleans, St. Louis, Toronto, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Seattle. The work will be on view through 2005.

A veteran filmmaker, Brambilla manipulates time-based work with cinematic precision and cyclical narratives, eliciting both suspense and wonder. In Cyclorama, Brambilla subverts time with the distortion of media, scale, and, consequently, context. Viewed on nine consecutive monitors installed within a custom-built cylindrical room, the videos are synchronized to erode any notion of distance or time zone, in effect merging the cities in a single panoramic skyline. From each rooftop, the viewer sees empty dining tables that rotate against a steel and glass wall as familiar landmarks become increasingly visible. Standing inside the installation, one experiences the city as a flat, serene landscape divorced from the chaos of urban reality. The strange whimsy of the spinning rooms is a wonderful and striking contrast to the quiet detachment of the moving snapshots they frame.

Born in Milan in 1960, Brambilla worked as a commercial and feature film director before turning to video and photography in 1998. His films include Demolition Man (1993), Excess Baggage (1997), and Pure Evel (2005). Brambilla has exhibited in international venues such as the Kunsthalle, Switzerland; Henry Urbach Architecture, New York; and Kenny Shachter/ROVE and 24/7 in Los Angeles. He currently lives and works in New York City.

Brambilla will be at the Museum for an artist talk at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 7 in the Phyllis Wattis Theater.

Media Contacts

Libby Garrison, 415.357.4177,

Robyn Wise, 415.357.4172,

Sandra Farish Sloan, 415.357.4174,

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San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 Third Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Founded in 1935 as the first West Coast museum devoted to modern and contemporary art, SFMOMA is currently undergoing a major expansion project that will significantly enhance gallery, education, and public spaces, enabling the museum to better showcase more of its expanded permanent collection. While the museum is temporarily closed for construction, through 2016, SFMOMA is “on the go” with an extensive array of off-site programming across the Bay Area, including collaborative and traveling museum exhibitions, major outdoor projects and commissioned installations, and new education initiatives.

Visit sfmoma.org or call 415.357.4000 for more information.

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